May 14

Deb's Battle with MS

Deb tries a Trike

No one really knows when my MS journey started. I only know when my symptoms became so big I could not ignore them anymore. I had just finished graduate school in December 1999 and started a midlife career change. I had a great job as a speech-language pathologist in a good district about 45 minutes from home. My four kids were spread out across the educational spectrum. One was in college, one in high school, one in middle school and one in elementary school. I got more and more tired, my hip joints started to give me trouble, and one morning in May 2000, I woke up and the right side of my body was numb. I saw my primary care doctor. The “diagnosis” contained a lot of “could be’s”… could be a pinched nerve from my heavy school bag, could be a brain tumor. My busy mom reasoning told me if it was bad, it would get worse, and then I would do more tests. So I waited. It took months for the numbness to pass but otherwise I seemed OK. The fatigue got worse and in September 2001 I changed to a part-time schedule with a shorter commute. The numbness returned and it was time to run the tests. The local neurologist was not willing to make the diagnosis of MS. In February 2002, I saw Dr. Andrew Pachner, a neurologist at UMDNJ in Newark. He took one look at the MRIs and made the MS diagnosis. He talked to me about my options with medication or no medication and sent me home to research my decision. I turned to the National MS Society website for reliable sources of information about prognosis and treatment. I could have spent a great deal of time digging for all of this information, but it was a wonderful help to find all the references gathered in one place. I was able to make an informed decision in a timely way.

While using the MS Society web site, we learned about the Coast the Coast Bike Tour to raise money for research and treatment of MS. My husband, Jeff, decided the best way to support me was to help fund a cure, so he registered for the 50 mile ride. He enjoyed the ride so much, he decided to ride the entire 170 miles the following year. He ran some training rides for the MS Society, met some other bike enthusiasts, and formed a team that has grown from 3 to 20+ riders this year. They are all a great source of support and encouragement for me. My husband even bought me a recumbent tricycle so I could start riding with my team (on shorter rides!). My children are great about keeping an eye on me and nagging me to do the right thing and take good care of myself. My friends are understanding when I cancel plans at the last minute when I’m feeling tired. My team rides each year to find a cure. And I know the MS Society is there with information and programs to meet my needs.

Cyclomaniacs 2007

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Help Fight MS
The Cyclomaniacs


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September 22

New York Marathon Training Week 12

The first thing you will notice a bout the blog this week (other then the fact that I haven't blogged in 2 weeks) is the lack of the picture.  I just don't feel like looking at the pictures to pick one.  To tell you the truth I really don't feel like blogging at all.

I was supposed to run the Philly Half Marathon (Philadelphia Distance Run) yesterday (9-21), but I could not.  On Saturday morning after I ate breakfast I got butterflies in my chest.  This is a very odd feeling.  I have been having this feeling on and off the the past few months, but I kept putting it off as indigestion, but Deb was starting to get worried so she told me not run until I saw the doc.  So I went to the doctor on Saturday and got an EKG.  The doctor did not like what she saw.  Was a result she said that I should not run until I get a stress test.  Actually she told me DO NOT run.  So I followed the doctor's orders and did not run my 8 on Saturday nor the Philly Half on Sunday.

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September 15

New York Marathon Training Week 11

Sorry for the delay in posting.  Life is getting busy, between work, training and taking care of my house I haven't had the time to post.  But this is actually a post for this past week! I had my best and worst runs of the my training thus far.  The best can on Tuesday with a 5 miles run in 50:35.  According to the watch that is 10:06 miles but according to my math that is 10:07 miles.  Either way that is very fast for me.  The worst came on Sundays long run.  I actually failed.  I try to never fail but the heat and humidity killed me.  I now know I will never start a race that has the conditions of this past Sunday.  I may retry the run next week to spite the fact that next week is a fall back week with the Philly Half Marathon.

Monday - This should have been a cross train, but once again I did not make it to the gym.  I did however, cut the lawn.  Walking is a valid cross train, so therefore pushing a lawn mower is a valid cross train.  Looks like that is what it will be again this week.

Tuesday - I was schedule for 5 miles but did not realize that until after I got home so I only did 4.  The pace was fast but not as fast as I would have liked.

Wednesday - 8 Mile Pace Run.  My target pace for the NYM is 11:15, this pace run came in at 11:05. This was an awesome run.  I felt great!  According to the polar my heart rate was low for effort.  Let's hope this is a trend.

Thursday - This was the best run of my training thus far. 5 miles in 50:35.  I felt great, and my heart rate never made it into the 90% range.  This means that I had more in the tank.

Saturday - 5 mile pace run in the humidity.  This was a bit of a struggle, but I managed to come in almost exactly on pace.  11:14.

Sunday - The day from hell.  I set out at 7:45 in 97% humidity at 75 degrees.  Can we say mistake. I knew I should have gotten out earlier. The first 5 miles were good.  Pace was exactly where I wanted it, around 12:00 minute miles and the heart rate was in the low 130s.  The next 4 were a bit harder so I slowed down some and walked some.  The pace dropped to around 12:15.  Mile 10 I seemed to get my second wind, but at the end all I wanted was cold water.  The gator-aid was no longer quenching my thirst. I pushed myself to the sunny mart and got some cold water and something to eat.  This seemed to fire me up until I hit the wall at mile 12.  I tried to push my way through it but I got light headed and the road in front of me started to swirl. After 1/2 mile of walking on the swirling road I called Deb and got a ride home.  When I got home I found that the temp was 86degrees and 55% humidity.  No wonder why I failed.

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August 29

New York Marathon Training Week 8

Yeah Yeah I know that I did not blog week 7's training but will all this training and having to work who has the time to blog.  There are some people that update their blogs every day.  I don't know how they do it.  Maybe they need to get a training program. This was a good week of training.  I did not miss a single run, I did, however, miss my cross train again.  Does lawn and garden work count as a cross train? Deb thinks it does.  By how warn out I am after doing my lawn it certainly should be. I know that this picture has nothing to do with the weeks training, but I like to have a picture in all my blogs.

Monday - I was supposed to cross train, but the lawn needed cutting.  I would like to have gotten in the pool for a couple hundred meters but work and the lawn go in the way of that.

Tuesday - 4 mile run.  When doing these short runs I try and keep my pace fast enough that I am short of breath the whole way.  Out of my comfort zone.  On this day I ran the first 2 miles as a kind of warm up and managed to keep them under 10:00 / mile.  The next to I poured it on with a short rest in between.  Each of these miles were done at around 9:30 / mile.

Wednesday - Pace day 7 miles worth.  My log book says close to pace 11:16 / mile.  My goal for the NYM is 11:15 / mile so that's not too bad.  I also noted that this run was painful.  I don't remember why it was nor did it write it down.  Oh well

Thursday - Another 4 mile run.  According to me log book I had a hard time getting out of bed so I had to run at lunch time.  I don't know why, but it seems that the later I run the worse the run is.  I kept the run sub pace at 10:39, but would have liked it to be faster.

Saturday - According to the training program it was supposed to be a 10 mile run, but I did it at pace.  I have not notes on the run, and don't remember anything other then running it.  Must not have been a very memorable run.

Sunday - Was scheduled for 15 miles but only completed 14.6.  I had planed out a real nice 15 mile route but with the town being paved I could not run the route that I planned, so I had to wing it.  I cam pretty close for winging it. According to the training program the long runs are all about distance and not pace, but at the same time you should keep your pace between 45 and 90 seconds a mile slow.  My pace was 11:55 So I was only 40 seconds slow.  So sue me. 

Next week should be fun.  I have a triathlon scheduled on the 7 mile day and 5k on the 11 mile day.  You can read all about next week.

11:52 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

August 15

New York Marathon Training Week 6

Sometimes I love running and other times I hate it.  This was one of the weeks where I had a little of both.  The week started off with a painful 3 miles on Tuesday, followed by a speed comfortable 6 on Wednesday.  Thursday gave me my fastest recorded mile.  The weekend was up in Cape Cod and 2 7 mile runs.  According to my training plan I was supposed to run 6 on Saturday and 9 on Sunday.  I added one to to Saturdays run to make up for the loss of the 2 miles on Sunday.  I could not do 2 extra because I ran out of water and there was no place to stop for more. All in all it was a good week of training.  No days were missed.

Another week of training and another vacation down. This time the vacation was coupled with the Falmouth Road Race.  To be truthful there would have been no vacation if it was not for the race.  Ya see my nephew Craig invited me to run the biggest 7 mile race there is. How could I say no? The map below is from my GPS showing the route of the Falmouth Road Race.As you can see it was mostly along the coast.  It was a very nice course.  It starts with some rolling hills, witch for some odd reason is my favorite thing to run.  The course then becomes nice an flat until the last mile.  Then you have the biggest hill on the route, or at least it seems that way.  It always seems that the biggest hill is the last hill of any run. This site does not support embedded trip maps. Visit http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip.aspx?tripId=242839 to view this trip.

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